Temptation
by xeloquentangelx
Summary: Her choices enabled temptation and her soul devoured it. Sasha finds herself struggling in one world while fighting to be in another. This story is in connection with RonTheRonin "Pride" and Cody'sFavoritexGirl "Insanity"
1. Just a Picture

**Chapter One**

The blaring sound of the music inside of the cramped studio apartment was enough to wake the dead. Sasha grinned, jumping out of the shower, it was unbeknownst that she would be joining the tile floor in a game of slip and slide.

"Falling on your ass achievement unlocked!" the fickle blonde laughed on the opposite side of the bathroom door. Sasha sighed cursing as the tingling pain on her backside reflected how much her good friend cared about her.

"Really Charlotte? Baby oil?" She reached for a towel wrapping herself just before pushing the door open. "How did you get in here anyway?"

"You left the door unlocked, again," Charlotte shrugged, "you better tone it down or Adam Rose is going to think your blooming into one of his little rosebuds."

Sasha rolled her eyes, pushing herself from the slippery floor was an obstacle. "It's not so bad, Char," she limped over to her friend who was scrolling through the never ending twitter feed. Sasha quickly dressed into maroon tank top and light-washed jeans. No need for any make-up today, the natural look was enough for the short shift she had today before the Takeover PPV.

"I'll still never understand why you even waste time at a little restaurant when you're a—

"It's far too personal right now," Sasha said looking into the mirror brushing out the dark strands. As much as she wanted to amplify the fact that she didn't come from a wrestling family as Charlotte did, not just any, but from the legendary Ric flair—so in terms of her status quo, her friend definitely had the upper hand. None taken, Charlotte worked just as hard as any of the other NXT rookies and Sasha was happy for her, but as any other aspiring superstar or diva the anxiety to succeed was overwhelming. Working in the indies for two years gave her the experience, and though having personal connections of her own; she still preferred to build her own success.

By the time she arrived to the street favorite Cimmaron Cafe, she caught a glimpse of two of three familiar men trotting into the place making eyes dilate into a whirl of admiration. The Full Sail ring of fan girls were giddy rushing to fix their morning hair in hopes to get the attention of Roman or Seth. Sasha chuckled inside. Seth finally brought his friend—she remembered him mentioning that he was going to introduce her to Roman. She knew who he was for the most part. Her hints on twitter couldn't have been more obvious. It's not like he knew it was her anyway, but after today, whatever Seths goal was he was going to find out.

She took the back entrance waving to a few familiar colleagues, Emma and Bayley were having a cup of coffee to start off the day. The usually alright music was shaded by the chatter and laughing of those in arriving in the restaurant. Seth, and Roman proceeded to grab a table on the upper level balcony. Seth flashed a smile Sasha's way and she returned one grabbing her notepad and heading to their spot.

The two of them finished conversing about something and the first one to order was the Samoan Thor himself. "I think I'll have the Belgian waffle combo," he said immediately raising a brow when he saw her. Good thing she was able to keep her composure because being in his vicinity indeed made her stomach spin. "And what will you have sir," she winked at her good friend, Seth.

"You already know what I want, sweetheart," Seth continued to list his usual of triple sunnyside up as Sasha scribbled down the order. It came to her inquiry that no Dean was around. Usually the three of them never left each others side, but she guessed Dean had other things to tend to. Emma kept glancing their way, it was kind of eerie.

"Fifteen minutes," she said treading back to the kitchen. She jumped over the swinging door to find another fresh rookie and 'hidden' beneath the coffee bar. "Angelo, what the hell are you doing?!" Sasha said grimacing. The brown-skinned guy flipped his snapback around making his glasses slid down his face a bit. "That's real creeper status, you know," she shook her head. Angelo laughed popping up from the coffee bar.

"Let me guess Char got you before I could?" he asked cursing beneath his breathe, Sasha could do nothing, but laugh at the feeble attempted prank day. The morning one was a bit of a surprise, but she wasn't having any other fuckery for today. On a real note, Angelo never just dropped in just to prank her and carry on. There was always an underlying reason.

"So, you gonna tell me what's up or do we have to gamble first?" Sasha asked brewing up the coffee maker. Angelo stood up giving her those run away eyes. He wasn't fooling anyone.

"What are you doing Sunday night after Payback?" He asked dusting off his Jordans, Sasha gave her immediate answer by rolling her eyes and glaring.

"Watching Sailor moon and sleeping," she perked her ears as Seth and Roman's order were called out, "it'll be a busy night."

"Alright, coo," he said helping her gather the shiny silverware, "but get this you've been on a roll with your boss flare why not expand your image into the world of socialites," he said in an almost philosophical tone.

"So are you saying you want me to prance around downtown Chicago with no panties on?" Sasha shook her head, "no thanks Britney handled that one for me."

"Though, I'm sayin' I wouldn't mind that at all," he said flashing a perverted grin, "but seriously we're just about having fun after the show, the rookies and maybe even some of the superstars will be there."

Sasha let out a long sigh. Why did she even gave him time of day to convince her. "Look, I'll go for a little bit and I'll have a good time, Bank On it."

Angelo let out an obvious breath of excitement. "Yes, you tha baddest!" he grabbed his galaxy S4 proceeding to text probably the world about the Chicago raging.

Sasha took the fresh orders of Seth and Roman's out to serve. She took a seat next to Seth playfully nudging him and grinning at Roman. It was interesting seeing Roman outside of the ring. He still looked like he was ready to fight though, but his physique is what made that apparent. Sasha swore there was someone afar near a tree gawking their way. It was definitely a female with long dark hair. Creeper status well deserved for whoever the fan girl was. Sasha shrugged returning her attention to the two hounds. That's what makes the WWE exciting, never knowing who you were going to meet, your inner demons, and how the fans would react; Temptation was it's favorite game and the devil himself knew the rounds of roulette would end in his favor.

Charlotte had done everything in the book to make it clear that she was indeed the new NXT Women's Champion. Everyday since she won at NXT takeover had been about celebrating her new reign. Sasha was indeed ecstatic for her friend, but really she becoming a real parrot. Typically nice and well structured all of a sudden everyone was her worse enemy. Except for Sasha. She wasn't the one to turn her back on a friend, even through the most bull shit drama, but she was becoming a little annoyed with her bragging rights. Sure, Sasha had felt a bit down and even a little jealous because her friend had the gold, but that was natural—every one wanted a shot, and patience was the only way to get it out.

* * *

Sasha turned her car into the crossfit gym parking lot barley surviving the traffic of Chicago. This place was a mad house and she couldn't have made anywhere without her GPS aka Summer Rae. Both divas had their hair pulled back into high ponytails, no make-up ready for a workout. They made their way through the entrance, Summer went straight downstairs to the weights. Sasha decided to go hit the punching bag for a few rounds upstairs. She peered through the shut door to see Seth, Randy, and to her surprise the COO Triple H—they were floating some serious conversation. Seth's infuriated grimace made the room seem confined as a jail cell.

"Adapt or perish," the last words the COO said just before he exited the room followed up with Seth throwing a basketball right for Randy's head. Bad aim, because instead it went straight for her, luckily her quick reflexes saved the day.

She stepped through the door too see sand all over floor. Rollins with his fist clenched together, veins ascending from beneath his skin, and sweat dripping from his chin. His shaded irises turned towards her shooting a piercing cold emotion she couldn't touch on. Sasha's stomach flipped over.

"Goodbye, Sasha," Rollins demanded in a burning tone, he turned to the mirror staring at himself in some sort of trance. Sasha crossed her arms walking towards him.

"Up for a sparring session? Like old times?" She asked hoping he was just recovering from an intense interval.

"If we spar Sasha, I may make you bleed, and believe that right now I don't give a damn."

"Are you alright?" She asked in a low saddened tone. The answer was obvious, but she didn't just want to leave him meddling in his anger, that could change a person.

"You decided to care now that you've finally notice?" His sardonic line was like a punch in the face. Had something been wrong and Sasha didn't catch on to? It made her sink to the floor.

"I don't understand.." she sat on the bench near him. Seth scoffed flipping his two-toned hair back.

"Of course you don't understand," he said glaring at her, "the best excuse I've heard all day."

It dawned on Sasha. At NXT Takeover after Charlotte won her match she decided to start her ring of cockiness and spat at Seth. Calling him underrated. Sasha and Roman were backstage chatting before the ordeal and when it happened Seth dipped out before they could catch up with him. Sasha shook her head in hopes to clear things over. Why would one little word boil him this far anyway? "Look, Seth if you're angry at what Charlotte—"

"It's not just about what she said," he snapped boiling over even more, "she just triggered what everyone had been thinking this whole time, and no thanks to you or Roman for not saying a thing to refute her either."

"No, Seth it wasn't like that—," Sasha tried to explain the aftermath, but Seth cut her off."

"Save it," he said snatching his gym bag and storming for the exit. Sasha jumped from the bench running towards behind him catching his hand just in time.

"Just whatever it is Seth," Sasha pleaded, "don't do anything you'll regret, I'm here for you if you need to talk." Sasha gave his hand a squeeze. Pausing Seth looked to the side, making slight eye contact with her; he gave her hand a squeeze as well and left the gym. He was still in there wasn't he?

**After Payback 2014**

Sasha and various NXT rookies all watched the hopeful ending to the PPV. Seeing Roman get beaten down like that made her cringe. She had only really been getting to know him for a few days now, but really enjoyed the limited time they spent together. "Turn up!" Charlotte said waving over a bartender. Angelo was taking pictures and collecting numbers, or so he thought.

Sasha was joined by one Tyler Breeze who showed up taking selfies. "You know Sasha I don't know why you don't join us more often—you definitely make the crowd look good." Breeze said handing her a shot glass. Sasha gave a questioning smile. She glanced around putting the shot back on to the table. She had enough for tonight and wanted to get back to her room. Oddly enough everyone was looking her way. A crowd of young students appeared blocking the way out completely. "Hey you're Snoop Dogg's cousin right?" One brunette asked with hopeful eyes. Sasha nodded and sighed. Not only was she irritated because of the thirsty ass groupies asking her about her family, but the crowd was making her a little antsy. She picked the shot glass back up throwing back sour apple vodka, the burning sensation did no justice mainly because this was shot number...

It was time to go.

"Angelo!" Sasha called out to her friend who had disappeared into the crowd. Sash pushed through the crowd bumping into Emma in the process. Emma laughed shaking her head. "Drunk, Sasha I didn't know if it was even possible, you need to get home."

"I'm not that drunk," Sasha said rolling her eyes.

"How about a dance?" Emma said doing her quirky trademark dance; Sasha quipped pushing Emma to the side.

"Sorry Emma, but fuck you right now," she snapped losing control of composure. Fuck where was Angelo? "God dammit!" She shoved her way through the crowd heated that Angelo had ran off somewhere. After a few minutes of shuffling, she found him grinning a group of females. She grabbed him by the arm, pulling him to the side. "I'm ready to go, I'm a little to out of it," she said taking a deep breath.

Sasha stepped out of the car relieved that she was finally out of that place. She sighed sending a text to Emma apologizing about being rude. Completely uncalled for. She entered her hotel, kicked her heels off, pulled the uncomfortable dress off and planked on to the king bed. She turned on her back staring at her phone, hovering over Roman Reigns name. He had to be in immense pain after the whole ordeal with Evolution tonight. Sasha sighed, biting her lower lip. Maybe a teasing picture and friendly text would do some good. In essence it was not like her to just throw herself out there like that, but she did say she would have fun tonight. She pulled her laced red bra straps down her shoulders exposing just enough skin. She snapped the photograph and wrote the message beneath it.

Brutal to watch you go through that tonight :(

Hope this makes the healing process go just

a little bit better. ;) See you soon!

-Sasha #BankOnIt #BO$$

Hopefully he would believe in that.

* * *

**I hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you think if you have second!**


	2. Patterns

**Chapter Two**

**Enjoy!**

Waking up with drool seeping into the pillow, vodka breath, and a blaring phone wasn't ideal for four-am. That was on her, especially knowing that it was going to kick her ass right back into bed. Luckily she didn't have to get to her flight until later in the morning, but that didn't explain why someone was blowing up her phone at such a deadly hour. She raised a brow as the caller ID flashed the unexpected name. Seth. "Hello," Sasha barley got the word out sounding as if she smoked a pack of Marlboro Lights.

"Long night?" The low tone meddled through the phone.

Sasha cleared her throat; the other night was a cluster of things, from what she could remember anyway. Along any other terms she hoped that at least whatever slum Seth was in the other day had passed. "Something like that," she yawned. "You feeling better?

"I feel revived, and I wanted to apologize about yesterday."

"Disregard the fact that you're calling me this early to apologize," she let out another yawn, "and it's okay." A sense of relief measured over her, briefly, something still didn't feel right. Maybe it was his morning voice.

"I had been channeling all this dark emotion, primarily because I just needed a change," Seth's words sounded more like a confession.

"Change is good," Sasha agreed, "sometimes it's the only way to move forward."

"And with you understanding that, I wanted you to be the first to know."

Sasha's ears twitched a little. A chill went down her spine. "Okay," her foggy mind may have been playing games at the moment. The desire of one wanting to change was relative and compelling, but for some reason he put off something more sinister.

* * *

The chatter coming from Charlotte passed through Sasha's ears like a stream and the Chicago airport was just as worse as the traffic. As the two waited for security; anything Charlotte said before or after the word party didn't register. Sasha was focused on her phone scrolling through the endless text messages that seemed way too far from reality. Had she really been texting Roman all night? At least the messages were suitable for all ages-

Just kidding. She took that back when she got to the picture message part of the night and face-palmed. Okay, so maybe she had a little more to drink than she thought? No. she was just in a really _really_ sexy mood last night.

"Who are you texting?" Charlotte said realizing that Sasha didn't hear a damn word she said, "you've been in your phone for hours now."

Sasha took a sip of her grande ice coffee. "Oh, just Roman," she quickly locked her screen. Charlotte raised a brow.

"Well damn, that's why you left early last night," she stuck out her tongue, "I'm proud of you, I thought maybe you were going all soft on me by siding with the lesser of a man, Seth."

Sasha rolled her eyes at her friends degrading attitude. "He's not, and just like you Char he's my friend—stop being so judgemental," she snapped.

"Calm down, I was just stating the truth," she snapped back, "of all three member's of the Shield, he's just the shadow."

The calm factor substituted in the attitude that Sasha wanted to give her bestie. Because really the airport wasn't to flattering for a catfight.

That moment when you wanted to slap the bitch out of your best friend's mouth. Whatever fumes that NXT title was giving Charlotte had negative lingering from it. Between the two of them and Summer, it was really starting to become some spotlight competition. If one had all the light in their favor, the others just dwindled in the background making their contributions on occasion. Or at least it seemed that way to observers.

Shadow. Sasha shook her head clearing the words from her memory. Charlotte went off to grab more coffee while Sasha returned to the text messages soothing her boredom. Her eyes moved forward almost jumping two feet back when a small diva with long dark hair stepped in front of her. "Shit, you scared me," she said feeling her heart rate rise.

"I don't think we've met, yet," the diva flashed a curious smiled and held her hand out, "I'm A.J."

Sasha nodded smiling back at her. With A.J. on the main roster it was rare to see her prancing around like this. "Of course, A.J.," Sasha said reaching for her hand and shaking it. "What are you doing here?"

A.J. for a few moments stared at Sasha, as if she was studying her. Weird.

"A.J.?" Sasha said with an uncanny worry.

A.J. jumped out of whatever trance she was in. "Yeah, I'm sorry I'm just here to..." she stopped, gazing at the floor and back to Sasha, "warn you."

Sasha was baffled, not aware of what warning AJ would give her. "You lost me.."

"It's about Roman," she blurted, "take away what you want with this..but he's conflicted."

"Oh," Sasha said with a blank expression, so he's not really looking for anything serious. Fine. How did AJ know this?

"It's just something that I've notice," A.J. said twiddling her fingers, "be careful," the small diva flipped her hoodie over her head and disappeared into the crowd.

Sasha shrugged. Conflicted was too vague for her to register at the moment. Maybe AJ had saw something that gave her the wrong idea about Roman, but until Sasha found out for herself she would continue the harmless flirting. Grinning at the picture message she sent last night, she took it to her liking to send a message before boarding the plane.

_So are you the Samoan Thor or the Samoan Superman?_

_I know you've got the super strength, but there's no doubt_

_in my mind that you bring the hammer down every time ;)_

_-BO$$_

The plane landed smoothly in Tampa and after dropping by her apartment for a half-hour it was back to a productive day before the live RAW. Sasha dropped her phone on the nightstand, showered and grabbed a few things to snack on before heading out the door again.

It was time for a little fun at the performance center.

Right as she entered the jeering Bayley was at the door waiting to greet everyone. Kudos all around for the positive mood. Bayley gave Sasha hug despite her ticked off attitude the other night. Various rookies including Adrian Neville, Sami Zayne, and Alexa Bliss all gathered around.

All the focus in the classroom and for some reason out of the blue, the only thing Sasha could think about was Seth. The conversation in the morning seemed as if it ended with an understanding of a phase, but something about Seth saying he needed a change. Something more corrupt than that.

She didn't remember a damn word Howard Fine said, but at least he had given them a syllabus for practice.

Sasha pondered over her thoughts. Maybe she was over-analyzing, but that feeling pulling at her skin was inevitable. She reached into her bag scrambling for her phone. Nada. She cursed. Not likely there were any thieves around here, but one couldn't be so sure. She caught up with Alexa who was heading out to the parking area. "Lexi, can I please use your phone?" she sighed wanting to kick her own teeth out, "I think mine got stolen."

"Sure," Alexa handed her phone to Sasha, "I'm heading to the cafe, you joining us for the Raw party?" Sasha dialed in the first number that floated inside her head; she gave Alexa a nod, throwing her purse in the passengers side of the simple coupe. Unsure if her feeling was accurate, but better to be safe. A few rings went on and Seth picked up the phone.

"He—" Seth didn't get a chance to finish before Sasha went into full game of twenty questions.

"What are you doing?" She asked anxiously, "this morning you said you needed a change and you wanted me to be the first to know..."

"I did," he agreed as if he was expecting the call, "and that's why I'm going forth with my decision tonight," he said boldly.

Sasha sighed shaking her head. To no extent did she think that he would ever turn his back on those who cared for him the most. "No...not like this," she pleaded, "think about what you're doing."

"What's best for me, Sasha," he words reached through the phone, "you know this feeling, better than anyone else, when others try to bring you down—what do you do?" His question brought back memories of when Sasha turned her back on her former friend Paige. She hadn't been the best person since then, but the feeling of freedom in exchange of losing a friend...

"I understand," she said whirling through emotions, the call disconnected.

"You okay?" the blonde next to her raised a brow at her dismay.

"No," she shook her head, "something terrible is about to happen tonight."

"Elaborate?" Alexa said stopping at a light. Sasha closed her eyes for a moment. She couldn't let this happen. With her phone gone, she wouldn't be able to reach Roman or Dean. "I just need to get in contact with Roman," she cursed taking the phone and sending a text to Charlotte. Maybe since she had missed class today she could swing by the apartment and grab the phone.

They found a space in the nearly full lot outside the Cimmaron. Sasha took a seat at the bar next to Tyler; who was taking a picture of himself sipping a macchiato. Wow. Sasha rolled her eyes. The front door swung open and Charlotte was standing tall. She ran over to Sasha holding her phone out as if she was suddenly out of breathe. "Got your message," she coughed a little, "floored it right away." Sasha let out a sigh of relief before quickly unlocking the phone; a text message appeared.

_Either way you look at it or slice it Sasha_

_you know I've got that superhero swag that _

_gets you every time. Bank on it and believe that._

_-RomanWillReign_

"Ohh," Charlotte said looking her shoulder, "sneaky," Sasha grinned a little before noticing her curious friend. Returning to reality, she hit the call button hoping that Roman wasn't busy.

Voicemail.

"Fuck!" She scrolled to the next name in line praying that bad luck was just a phase. Dean's phone gave the same result.

Sasha cursed again. She didn't want to resort to the whole he said she said deal, but one person that could send the message for her and sound completely accurate. She dialed in the number hoping the other line would disregard a machine.

"Hello?" The voice on the line responded after one ring.

"Hey, John," Sasha lowered her voice, "look I know this may sound insane, but I spoke with Seth earlier...he's been out of sync lately and tonight he's going to betray Roman and Dean"

John shuffled on the phone as if he was checking to see if there were any listeners. "You're sure?"

"Yes..I think it's been at his mind for awhile now...if you can find a way to stop him or warn the other two, please?"

"I got you Boston," John assured. Sasha crossed her fingers, the show began.

"Just one martini?" Charlotte sighed as Sasha nodded while looking at the screen. Still nothing between the Shield transpired and she almost thought that maybe Seth had changed his mind. Thought it over.

"For now yes, way too much to do this week and—" Sasha stopped when Evolution appeared on the screen. They stood outside the ring facing the Shield sledgehammer in hand; Seth had gone to get backup of his own, the steel chair. Hunter went on about how the Shield had conquered them, but in no means was it over and it didn't matter that Batista had quit because...

"And if plan A doesn't work out, then there's always a plan B," Hunter said with smarmy grin in villainous fashion as did Randy."

Roman and Dean took a step forward; ready for a fight, Seth stood back with the chair in his hands and an ice cold irises glaring at his 'brothers'

Goddamn you Seth!

Sasha closed her eyes hearing the metal bounce off of Romans back and avoided looking at the screen from then. "On second thought, I think I'll have another martini," she said looking at Charlotte who was in shock, along with the other rookies. Eyes wide and silence filled the room at the betrayal on the TV.

Charlotte nudged Angelo who was tweeting away about the incident. He grabbed more martini's from the bar. Sasha didn't hesitate to indulged the salty bombed drink.

"Whoa!" Breeze said gazing at his phone with a hazy expression on his face, "Sasha I didn't know you were into the whole scandal thing."

"What?" Sasha was baffled, she went over to Tyler stumbling almost as the affects of alcohol squeezed into her veins. Tyler gave her his phone.

Her jaw dropped.

The racy photo she had sent Roman had been all over the web. Every wrestling news site and even TMZ had the photograph in vivid color.

_Snoop Lion's(Dogg's) cousin show's off goodies._

No. No. No.

Sasha didn't know how to respond. She looked her phone over—she had only sent it to Roman. Why would he send it to anyone else? Maybe that's what AJ's warning was for?

"You look way hot," Charlotte shrugged, "hey it gets you some attention," her friend brushed off the tension.

"Char, this isn't something to feel great about.."

"Man, if Hunter gets to this, Sasha," Angelo said shaking his head, "you gotta watch who you send this stuff too."

"You mean when," Sasha wanted paper bag over her head asap, "this night..." the fiery built in her blood, had she felt any angrier she would probably combust. She grabbed her phone calling Roman again. The show was over, the damage was done, but she needed to now what he did with her picture.

Voicemail.

"Roman, if you do not pick up your fucking phone!" she yelled so loud people in the restaurant all silenced. Before she could another word in the small Alexa Bliss snatched her phone and the fifth martini from her grip.

"Believe me, Sasha, the last thing you want to do is leave a drunken message—" Sasha didn't let Bliss finish by delivering a piercing slap to the petite rookie. Bayley quickly came to Alexa's aide.

"Don't you ever take my shit away from me again!" Sasha snapped, foggy and enraged she didn't know what was happening to her internally she couldn't control the fire building beneath her skin. Charlotte laughed. "This is the Sasha I've been waiting for," she embraced her bestie.

Sasha gave a sadistic smile as everyone kept their eyes her way. Her voice was heard, the attention was in her favor. "Turn the fuck up!" she demanded.

The night went into the morning and Sasha was shitfaced; along with Charlotte and Angelo the three climbed into the cab. The driver, who barley spoke English got them back to their apartments quickly. Sasha nearly crawled all way to her door, tripping over herself she barley made it inside enough to kick the door closed. Crawling over to the kitchen she grabbed a bottle of water and ibuprofen. For the few hours of sleep she was going to get, she knew the hangover was going to be a nasty one. She set the water and pills on her nightstand.

Two things had happened last night while one was embarrassing, the other was heartbreaking. For many, but for those who were close to Seth...

That friend you went to when you felt like the world was about to kick your ass into the deep blue sea.

She went into her walk-in closet staring at the wardrobe labeled BOSS; looking past her Louis's and Jimmy Choos.

The only thing that mattered was the oversized hoodie that Seth had given her in 2012. She took the damn thing out wanting to toss it right into the trash.

Instead she laid the hoodie on the bed and cuddled next to it.

* * *

**Hey y'all! Thank you all for the feedback! Let me know what you think and keep them coming! Don't forget to check out the connecting stories by RonTheRon "Pride" and Cody'sxFavoritexGirl "Insanity" **

.


	3. Repercussions

**Chapter 3**

The cure for the hangover didn't budge; the ringing sound throbbing through her ears like a generic alarm clock on repeat.

Again.

So then she probably pissed a lot people off the night before, but really who would remember anyway. After realizing that Seth was going to leave his brothers behind; she was too little too late in getting the message pushed forward. No turning back or last minute thoughts, it was done. Seth was gone.

What did this mean for Roman and Dean?

Roman needed to burn in Hades for releasing Sasha's picture on the web. Assuming it was him—she didn't send the photo to anyone else, but what would he have to gain from it anyway? Did he just find it amusing to leak something like that? From what she did know about him—it didn't seem right. None of it really added up—regardless the next time she spoke to him she was going to be sure that he got the shaded side of her. Who knew that in span of a few weeks something so simple and harmless would become one big tsunami. It was almost worse than reality TV.

Just stride along, she continued her thoughts. There was no time for a relationship anyway—she was fine.

Time is what lead to her being friends with Seth in the first place, or at least that's what it seemed like. After he joined the Shield and got busy—Sasha didn't want to become a distraction. They agreed that they would value a friendship more and had been fine like that since.

However, the sudden nostalgia she had for him lately didn't make the predicament any clearer; maybe she just really missed hanging out with him.

Yeah.

She was on the road nonetheless. The next show was in Palatka and she was far from ready. Nerves were the last thing she thought about when it came to wrestling, but with the blaring picture of her floated around world wide web; she was surely going to need a medium sized paper bag. With media being huge in WWE now days, she wouldn't be surprised if the COO was at the door waiting for her.

To her surprise it was one Summer Rae by the building. As if things weren't twisted already, the random appearances from Summer were questioning. Charlotte and Sasha had been becoming a bit distant from her, not only because she's occupied mostly on the main roster, but the trouble she's stirred up overall. It would work itself out somehow though, she thought. "Sasha I needed to talk to you-" she said as Sasha approached the entrance.

"Not now, Summer," Sasha said entering the building, "tell me after the show."

She entered just in time to find Angelo and Charlotte chatting by the vending machine. No glares or raised eyebrows yet. The two friends knew better. "You made it in one piece," Charlotte said raising a brow. Sasha nodded.

"Just barely," she responded rumbling through her headache. After shaking off her long night with coffee, she prepared for her match against Alexa Bliss in the locker room. An apology was in order—from what she remembered she didn't take to well with small diva and on impulse slapped her. The last thing she wanted was to stir up unnecessary drama. And now with that picture floating around, there was about to be more storming her way.

The crowd on a good note was hyped throwing awesome chants at the NXT divas as Sasha and Lexi finished the match strong; Sasha hit the Bankrupt pinning Bliss clean. Before the two left they hugged it out effortlessly. "Sorry about last night I was so rude," Alexa smiled accepting her apology and they both slipped through the black curtain; walking by Summer and Charlotte who were seemingly arguing as if that wasn't enough the person in question himself was standing in her way.

Roman stood there as if she was suppose to give him some welcoming gesture; instead her face fell into a bold glower. Fiery from the photo getting out to the media, she didn't know exactly if she was more upset with him or herself. Was he even to blame? "You've got some nerve showing up here," she said refraining from making her hand contact his pretty precious face.

"You're right, I do. But I came here to see you, to-" Roman started some heartfelt explanation. Sasha's mixed emotions definitely wasn't helping.

"To laugh at me? Or to tell me in my face that this was all just a game to you? Or maybe both?" She fired. The tension rising caught the attention of her two friends Summer and Charlotte in which they halted their argument completely focused on them. Many more wandering eyes were glancing their way as well.

"Hey, enough with that. I came to tell you that, in spite of what you're going through right now, I wanted you to know that I didn't leak that photo out to the Internet. I would never do something like that. My pride wouldn't even let me," he placed his Superman fist over his heart. Sasha's glower softened into hope. So it really wasn't him then? She fused through her irrational actions the night before. The one's she could remember.

"I don't know whether to believe you or not," Sasha confessed, "but I tried calling you and you didn't answer," she finished.

"That's because I didn't have my phone and neither did Dean. We got your messages and hell, we even got a letter from John explaining the whole situation," Roman said his eyes followed hers.

"If and when Hunter sees this, I'm going to be so dead. If he even finds out about...whatever this is between us, he's going to kill you," Sasha quietly warned, as some stagehands passed by. Roman shook his head, placing his gloved hand on her shoulder.

"And you're not worth it?" he said with a meaningful charm in his voice. No matter how hard Sasha tried to resist, as soon as as she heard that charm and made eye contact with the genuine Samoan, she went from being uncertain to swooned.

Sasha started for an apology for about the horrid voice-mail she sent him "Roman I…" he placed his left arm around her waist, and hooked her in.

"You what?" he said, raising an eyebrow. "Don't worry, everything's gonna be alright. We'll find out who did this," he said, massaging the back of her neck.

To her surprise two familiar faces jolted from around the corner; Jimmy and Jey Uso; looking as if they just gave a rookie some special 'welcome coffee' Sasha freed herself from Roman's grasp.

"Our cousin, that's our dog! Last name Reigns, first name Roman, taking advantage of the Sasha effect!" Jon yelled out, raising the roof. Sasha grimaced looking at the two brother's then back to Roman.

"He went from crazy chick to the 'Boss of NXT' in a snap!" Jey yelled out excitedly.

Sasha quickly took a step back. "What do you mean crazy chick to the Boss?!" Sasha said, with a scowl look on her face.

Negative.

Again, not that it was her plan to just take a leap of faith and jump into a relationship, but she did enjoy the pace and consideration.

Okay, a little fast on the pace part, but aside from that it brought back the memory of seeing AJ in the airport the other day. It all fell together when Jey gave play by play of what had been going on in the wonderful world of AJ in wonderland and the anger and frustration made its way back into her psyche.

"So AJ was right. You are conflicted," Sasha said shaking her head and shrugging. Why should she be even the slightest surprised? It was Roman Reigns after all. Sasha departed from Roman without another word. Charlotte and Summer trailed behind her she pushed through the locker room doors with force. The two friends stood there waiting for her give the gossip, but instead they got the remnants of a silent treatment. More like Sasha meddling in her thoughts.

"So?" Summer said getting Sasha's attention, Sasha rolled her eyes.

"There's nothing to talk about, he didn't send the picture." Sasha said firmly to the blonde. "It's handled." Summer gave her a surprised look.

"Your reputation is ruined now because of photo and you're just carrying on?" Summer crossed her arms.

"Did you send the photo?" Charlotte interjected giving Summer a dirty look, the argument from earlier clearly wasn't resolved. Sasha shook her head at the dispute not wanting to waste any time on the matter.

Plus she was worn-out and paying for last night.

Too bad.

She was about to receive the proper punishment she loathed. As she stepped out of the locker as the bold face of the COO of the company shot a glare at her and it was inevitable to avoid it. The extra frown line added to his forehead told the rest of the story. She stepped into the COO's office prepared to face the wrath, but was taken aback. Of course it wasn't going to be a simple one on one meeting.

"Mercedes,"

She winced at the sound of Hunter's voice as he took a seat in front of her. She dropped her duffel to the floor.

"As you may know, there's been a stir up backstage and all over social media—because of a leaked photo you had taken." Sasha nodded feeling the room close in.

"We don't condone this type of behavior, I know you understand that."

"I do."

"Then explain to me how this happened?"

Sasha anything, but comfortable took a moment to respond. "I sent it to a friend," she explained—I'm not sure how it went beyond that, but I promise it will never happen again."

"Good," he motioned towards the door as it slowly opened—a secretary brought in a shiny Macbook and Hunter paused glancing at his phone. "I'm going to make this your warning," Hunter said sternly. Sasha raised a brow relieved, but surprised about the decision. She gave a nod of assurance. Maybe luck was on her side after all.

Something was still out of place though and she needed to know who sent that picture.

**Hey y'all! Thank you all for the feedback! Let me know what you think and keep them coming! Don't forget to check out the connecting stories by RonTheRon "Pride" and Cody'sxFavoritexGirl "Insanity" **


	4. Taste of Boston

**Chapter 4**

**Thanks again for the all the feedback! Enjoy**

A sudden anxiety bolted over her moving straight to her palms and waking her up in the process. The mass sweat on her forehead was enough to hydrate a severe drought, but damn she wondered if she had a fever.

Never getting sick was catching up with her.

Sasha rolled out of bed and struggled to fridge grabbing a bottle of water. Maybe it was the horrid humidity in Florida, but man it was hotter than usual and only two-am. She cranked up the AC unit and slid outside the patio door. The soft purrs raised from the furry company she had. "Have I been ignoring you Nala?" she said as Nala hopped next to her on the lounge chair. Sasha scrolled through her phone still thinking about the stupid photo online.

Really what was bothering her was the fact that Hunter let her off so easily.

Sure she was thankful that he didn't blast her into a literally ring of punishment, but then again others may have done worse.

Nope a week later it still didn't add up.

As for the Roman situation she was really becoming indecisive. Did it really matter that he had something with AJ Lee before her? It was really none of her business, but isn't the girl married to Phil? This whole situation was baffling. One thing Sasha did realize about AJ is when it came to men. The Geek Goddess always got what she wanted, but considering that she may have found her soul mate and all...

She was crazy. You don't question crazy—you just let them play on.

Maybe Roman was worth the shot after all; Sasha had been single for awhile now and did enjoy the harmless flirting from time to time. Really getting into an ugly battle over a guy wasn't something she aimed for. Roman's charm, however did intrigue her—to a point where she really wanted to take the leap.

Then there were those lingering feelings for Seth. Primarily that's what was shitty about being friends with someone you use to be with. It seemed like it was okay at first, but then suddenly those feelings always found a way to win. As for him feeling the same? Good luck on her ever finding out because his mind had wandered. Whatever his motives were right now did not include her. She was fine with that.

She could wait.

Sasha sighed turning on her play-list and looking back towards the kitchen. Getting back to sleep was something a little vino could cure.

The live event this Friday afternoon and a good one at that. For once she got a break from tagging with Charlotte and her ego with the replacement of new upcoming rookie, Carmella. Angelo found himself in a deadly match against Bull Dempsey who quickly annihilated Angelo. That was probably the third time this month.

The dwindling alliance between her, Charlotte and Summer had only been getting worse. Charlotte's attitude was becoming unbearable and Summer's defense mechanism channeled all the way from Total Divas. Which all cost her the match she had with Alexa Bliss the other night; Sasha was just about done. Being the friend she is—she decided to not let it boil over too much, yet.

Definitely knew the consequences in that demeanor.

Sasha and Carmella went up against the lucky charm team of Becky Lynch and Alexa Bliss. It was nice to have a little more freedom on days like this because Sasha was able to utilize more of her indie moves, in which she could only use on occasion. Both sides delivered well. Alexa was tiny, but she could work the hell out of that ring, excelling in her high-flying technique—hitting the 450 splash and various moves that divas weren't renowned for. She even had Sasha dizzy at some point. Sasha gave some of her own as well; hitting her favorite suicide dive on their opponents. They brawled back into the ring keeping the audience engaged. For a fresh rookie, Carmella was on fire—hitting an STO outside the ring on Becky; Sasha took the advantage to deliver a sudden backstabber to Alexa and transitioned into the cross-face for the win.

The evening was near and Sasha had some minor packing to do for Boston on this weekend. Not only was it the PPV Money In The Bank-named after her, she chuckled. Her family was excited to see her considering her time conflict during the week. She shook her head. Her Mother was probably going to talk her ears off and make her eat everything she can't in the E.

Carmella hit the road with her back to Winter Park turning on memory music from the 90's as Sasha relaxed in the passengers seat sending out a few tweets to fans; and lingering over a few old text messages before deleting them all. A few new messages appeared on her screen three from her Mother asking a different variation of the same question about tomorrow. _Are you fighting tomorrow?_ And then there was one from Seth?

Okay.

She opened up the message curiously and almost deleted it by accident.

_You're avoiding me? _Sasha found it a little amusing, but he was most likely being serious. It's not like she told him everyday that she missed him. Or at all.

_Ignoring you, actually...traitor. _She hit the send button. The traitor part was very true—but the ignoring thing was just to feed her own denial.

_I didn't betray you... _She could hear his tone and all.

_Still kinda lame it had go that way..._

_Self success is always okay, isn't that your motto BOSS?_

_Great point. _She hoped the sarcasm screamed at him. _Really though, what is it Seth?_

_Is it so bad that I wanted to say hello? You're still my friend you know. _ Sasha half smiled. At least he was thinking about her...she guessed. Maybe it would be better to actually talk to him. Not via text message though.

A half-hour drive later and the two were back in town Sasha handed Nala off to Carmella for the weekend and gathered her carry-on for the red-eye flight. Surely she was excited about the event and the time she got to spend with her family, but the amount of salt that came with it was unsettling. Whether or not the COO let things by, the photo was still out there; the attention was still there, but she would have to deal with it either way.

And her own little secret, of course.

The flight was a little bumpy, but landed smoothly in the Athen's of America city. Sasha got a few Z's on the flight and at seven in the morning she wasn't sure if she was up for seeing her mom this early. So for a little preparation, she stopped by the Starbucks stand. The barista seemed like he had a heck of a night; his apron stained with coffee. Sasha smiled hoping to lighten his day a little. "I'll have grande caramel machiatto, please." The barista nodded starting up the espresso machine, he reached under the counter revealing a pair of black glasses. "You work for the WWE company right?" he asked immediately blushing when Sasha gave a nod.

"Yes I do," she replied handing him her debit card.

"I think these belong to one of your co-workers-long dark hair, yae tall..skips a lot," he said handing her the macchiato. Sasha raised a brow. The Geek Goddess was back so soon? Hm. She took the glasses and slid them into her Louis Vuitton.

"I'll get them to her, thanks." Sasha turned to walk away, but stopped herself as all curiosity risen. "By any chance...did you see her with anyone?" Sasha flashed smile leaning into the counter.

The man had a hardline across his face, again. "I did actually—she was talking to that John Cena guy—I didn't catch it all, but the last thing she said was something about finding Roman," he shrugged. Sasha grimaced a little.

"I see," she said glowering her eyes. She took a seat at one of the tables and pulled out her laptop. Checking her business email; the majority of the roster was booked at the Boston Garden Inn. Perfect. Considering she use to work there before she got her dream job, it would be an easy approach at finding the Geek Goddess's room and returning her glasses with pleasure.

Leaving a nice tip for the coffee guy, Sasha rushed out of the airport to her rental.

The Inn was within an easy five-mile radius. Sasha hopped out the car and pushed through the entrance of the Inn. The receptionist with olive skin and sandy hair immediately recognized her. "Mercedes? You're out here today too?"

"Yeah, Dana," she said smiling to her former colleague, "Could you do me a favor?" Dana gave a nod slightly uncomfortable. Either she knew that Sasha was about to bend the rules or she had seen the photo.

"Do you have A.J. Brooks on your list?" Sasha said moving her eyes over the surroundings. Dana paused scanning the computer screen she nodded.

"Yes, Ms. Brooks is on the fourth floor in 24C." Before Dana spoke any more Sasha was up the stairs to her destination. She wanted to make this quick. 24C was at the end of the hall. Sasha didn't know exactly how A.J. was going to react, but it didn't matter. She didn't come here for a slumber party.

Knocking on the door with enough force the Boss of NXT was surprised when A.J. swung the door open with a look of dismay on her face.

"What the hell, Sasha?" A.J. squinted her eyes, well she certainly did need the glasses.

Sasha reached into her bag and pulled out the glasses. "Can't see to clear?" She handed them over her. A.J. grabbed them reluctantly and slid them onto her face.

"Thanks..."

"I know about your little thing with Roman," Sasha blurted, "I wanted to let you know that I don't want any trouble from it."

A.J. chuckled giving an arrogant smile. "It's not like he has much of choice anyway," A.J. flipped her hair back rolling her eyes.

"I don't follow..." Sasha said tilting her head to the side.

"There is only me and none of you," A.J. crossed her arms, "if you really think that some fake little water under the bridge speech is gonna end this—."

"I'm not trying to stir up things AJ," Sasha retorted, "I don't want war—I don't understand why you keep itching at it like this."

"Obviously you interest in Roman has peaked," AJ spat, "the picture tells all, and then some," AJ said going into rant mode. "From a guys perspective I don't blame him. You send a suggestive enough photo indicating you're a whole lot more than just the Boss of NXT."

"A peak in interest is just that," Sasha squeezed her fist. A.J. was starting to be a little more cunty and less cute. She respected her, but right now she wanted to rip her throat out. "Look AJ—"

"Don't get me started on the media having your photo all over the world now," she interrupted getting in Sasha's face, "I mean now you have a plethora of guys running your way—hope you saved up enough to dry-clean your pretty little outfit after they're done with you."

Zero.

Ten.

Sasha didn't feel AJ's face connected to her hand because she had swung so fast that there was a time lapse. Anger boiled over. She was usually calm and good a wavering out of things from being violent. At least when not drunk, but AJ was going way too far.

So much for returning the glasses as they flew off AJ's face splitting in half when hitting the floor. AJ laughed hysterically. Looking into Sasha's eyes she knew how to dig deep.

"Roman is single," Sasha said with a strong glare, "that picture was leaked, you are again being nasty and jealous bitch." Sasha gazed down to the shiny ring on A.J.'s finger, "shouldn't you be worried about that husband of yours?"

AJ smirked putting her hands behind her back and raising her brow. "So does Roman know that you're still in love with Seth Rollins?"

"Stop it, AJ." Sasha ignored the hit, "you know nothing about that."

"I don't?" She said rubbing her hands together, "you honestly think that I didn't do my digging on you?"

"What's in the past stays there," Sasha said shaking her head, "nothing from then is really that relevant right now."

"Really?" AJ laughed dramatically, "because you two were so in love, I mean how can a bond so strong be wretched into the wind, especially since you two..."

AJ stopped her bickering. Giggling at her round of truth. How she found out anything was beyond Sasha. Why she wanted to torment her she didn't understand. All for Roman huh?

A.J. burst into song. "I'm a little teapot Short and stout. Here is my handle, here is my spout. When I get all steamed up hear me shout. Tip me over and Pour me out."

She really was crazy.

Back on the road again. Sasha was speeding. Where was the traffic patrol anyway? It was all because AJ had sent her into overdrive. She knew everything. Too much. Her knowing that her feelings for Seth were indeed that strong wasn't what initially bothered her. It was the fact that AJ knew everything else that Sasha thought was buried. Eventually things did catch up with you. Then there was the fact that AJ threw every thing back at her with the photo. Getting under her skin—all because she wanted Roman Reigns.

Sasha wasn't going to let jealousy stop her from hanging out with him. AJ could do as she please, but all it was going to accomplish was Roman seeing that she truly is a mental case that couldn't be hindered.

God she needed a fucking drink, but she didn't exactly want to walk into her mother's house in that form anyway.

Sasha pulled into the driveway at the house she grew up in. It was always weird returning to a place as such because of where she was now.

It was kind of errie to see that her mother's gardening obsession hadn't dissipated. At all.

Although the fancy sport's car outside the garage definitely didn't belong to her parents.

Her nerves bottled up as she pushed the door open, her mother walked right out of the kitchen to greet her.

"Mercedes, what took you so long?" They embraced. Her mom led her to the kitchen, "you have company."

Seth Rollins stood in the kitchen casually. Sasha had to blink a few times. "What..?"

Her mom smiled. "You have the sweetest co-worker—"

Sasha pulled Seth out the kitchen right outside the sliding screen door into the back yard.

"What are you doing here?"

"Spending some quality time with you," he said raising a brow, "is that weird?"

"No, it's creepy." Sasha said looking through the door as mother went into chef mode, "what games are you playing?"

"None, Sasha," Seth said sternly grabbing both of her hands, "I came here to see you and to gain your trust again."

"You could have called or text, you know." Sasha said glancing at her phone. A text from Roman was in her message box. Something about a movie. "And I never said I didn't trust you. I just called you a traitor."

"I didn't betray you."

"So I guess that makes everything you did okay then, right?" Sasha snapped realizing that Seth was still holding her.

"Look, if this really bothers you that much then I can go," he said looking down. Sasha sighed through her lingering anger.

She did want to talk to him today after all.

"No," she finally relaxed.

"I knew you wanted me to stay," Seth grinned, pushing his hair behind his ears as Sasha groaned. "Look whatever, my mom is gonna make me a home cooked meal that I haven't had in ages. You're welcome to stay I guess," Sasha said, loosening his grip from around her.

"And then maybe we can catch a movie or something? I heard the new Transformers movie is really good," the Architect casually suggested. "I'm just trying to do what I said; spend some time and earn your trust again," he said.

Sasha, slightly nervous, looked around the outside patio. After all, didn't she just get a text from Roman asking about going to a movie? She inwardly groaned; sometimes it was tough to be the Boss, but she was the head honcho for a reason. She had to make these tough decisions.

"Fine," she said, "I'll go with you around 7pm this evening? And I'll meet you at the theater. Don't bother coming to pick me up," she said in a hurry. Seth chuckled at her slight panic.

"I'd think you're just trying to get rid of me," he said, sliding his phone out of his pocket. It was a text from Randy, telling him to come get him. Apparently Dean tracked Randy down, and had beat the Boston snot out of the St. Louis native and now he was lurking nearby for Seth.

"I think I'll pass on the brunch Sasha. Something just came up and I have to go address it right now. I'll still meet you at the theater," he said, bowing out and hopping over the fence. Apparently that Crossfit really did pay off.

Sasha scratched her head in complete confusion; what the hell just happened? Why was he being so discreet with her? Was it her breath? The Boss pondered her thoughts, and out of the corner of her eye could have sworn she saw Dean Ambrose fall out a tree and run to pursue Seth.

Whatever it may be tonight was going to be an interesting one. It would all start off with a movie with Roman Reigns.

_**Hey y'all! Thank you all for the feedback! Let me know what you think and keep them coming! Don't forget to check out the connecting stories of the Deadly Sins by RonTheRon "Pride" and Cody'sxFavoritexGirl "Insanity" and Mellyxbrooks "Envy"**_


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Standing out side the Boston Matinee, Sasha was in full incognito mode. Sort of. After she glanced in the compact mirror she slipped on her large Versace shades. Smiling to herself as her unorthodox outfit of a red and black Sailor Moon T with high cut jean shorts—she definitely iced it with the stilettos as well.

Gianni himself would be proud of her creativity.

She was not at the theatre to see a movie; she had just gotten out of the Transformers showing with Roman. It was nice to relax and catch something in the normal world for once—especially with the continuous busy schedules. Sasha enjoyed the time she spent with the Samoan Thor. Even uploading a more appropriate photo on Instagram with him and she even gave him a kiss.

That one was impulsive, but no regrets there. Not yet anyway. She pondered a bit until the person she was waiting for pulled up in the flashy crimson sports car. Seth didn't have on any stupid corporate suit or something out of his element. He was wearing a black graphic T and plain dark jeans. More of his style

Seth smiled as the window rolled down and the doors unlocked. "Hop on in," he adjusted the seat for her. She stared at him; conflicted on whether she wanted to fall through with whatever this date was. Most likely because there was a little guilt for just going on a date with Roman.

"You okay?" he said turning the radio low then moving his eyes to hers. He caught on to Sasha's reluctance as she slightly nodded.

"Where are we going?" Sasha took a step towards the car, her shoulders tensed up.

Seth shrugged. "I don't know to see the world, or whatever you want."

"Only if it's safe," she said finally getting into the car.

"Do you trust me?" he raised a brow. "At least enough for now."

Sasha hesitated as she strapped the seat-belt on. "Yes..."

Seth quipped and turned the music volume back up. Not a thing had changed. He always needed raging music while driving. As they drove beyond the sunset, Sasha on gazed at her hometown as the city lit up full of Boston nightlife. At least she got to spend some time with Seth. They parked outside the pier and Sasha felt her heart pound out of her chest. So many unanswered questions that she was finally going to address. She pulled off her shades as they walked up the dock taking a seat at the edge as the Boston waters glistened from the lights. Seth place his arm around her waist pulling her closer to him. She leaned into him relaxing feeling her shoulders release the lingering tension.

* * *

MITB was amazing a few disappointments, but an overall great experience while being home for a little. She was disappointed because Roman didn't prevail to capture the gold he yearned for, unlike Seth who got the sealed opportunity briefcase. She meant to keep up with Roman to see how he was doing, but he was gone before anyone could catch a word. Maybe after Raw.

Pouting at her last night out of Florida the last three days had been amazing.

And wasn't Instagram such a great reminder of that, she thought smiling as the picture of her and Seth appeared in the news feed. In converse with the one she uploaded of her and Roman—the fans were certainly going to take it in which ever direction they wanted.

However, she only had eyes for one of them.

She wanted to kick herself for leading Roman on. But come on, he was flinging with AJ Lee. The bitch.

Sad she used to like her, but people are never as they seem. Shades of truth were always exposed eventually—unfortunately all fifty of them.

Sasha scrolled through the tumblr fan mail answering various(weird) questions and giving shout outs. Some times the Stan's were a bit much, but she did enjoy their passion nonetheless. Angelo sat near by with an ice pack on his face the last hit he took from Bull Dempsey left a nasty knot upside his head. Sasha shook her head. The guy had been getting nothing, but shade treatment the last couple of months.

Then again so was she.

That was out of her hands she guessed and Summer was the one who was getting the opportunity next if she won the contender match against Bayley. For now she would have to deal with it.

Among dealing with things it had been quite chaotic around the E lately. A few days ago Emma was wrongfully accused of shoplifting. No one believed that bull in the slightest—that just wasn't Emma's thing. After it all fell out the COO fired her and reinstated her within hours. Strange that something like that would ever happen with edgy work politics that spread throughout the place...guess Emma must have had an angel on her side.

She picked up her buzzing phone as an incoming call from Summer Rae surprised her. Usually Summer only called for either a hand for a shopping binge or to bar hop on the coast. Neither of that came to mind at the moment. A margarita sounded great at the moment though.. "What is it?" Sasha said closing a few windows down as Angelo glanced over her shoulder.

"Are you busy?" Summer said with dismay in her tone. Sasha put the phone on speaker ready to tune out whatever nonsense creeping through the other line.

"Nope just surfing the web," Sasha said uninterested, Summer sighed.

"I'm sorry about your match with Alexa last week, me and Charlotte aren't too fond of each other lately."

"Obviously you two didn't consider the backfire and ruined my moment," Sasha snapped raising her voice. "What did you want, Summer?"

"Look, come to the arena tonight I have some information that may make you reconsider who you can really trust." Summer ended the conversation. Sasha was tired of the backhand games between the three of them and if going to the arena to hear whatever Summer had to say would fix it then fine.

"Whatever," Sasha said to herself. Enough with the pondering drama and social media. It was time for a run while the day was still alive. Heading downstairs into the lobby she wasn't expecting to see Charlotte—and though she was obviously in view, the blonde was too distracted by her father. Sasha took a detour around them just close enough to hear a few words.

"It'll be explosive," Ric Flair said with that wired look in his eyes, maybe he had a bit to drink, but that was no surprise to anyone by now. Sasha's ears twitched when Charlotte spoke about having to travel with the roster next week. Well good for her then. The shade was ample and so was her attitude.

Sasha jogged clearing her mind to some degree; the smoggy Connecticut air didn't help much, but did just enough, plus she swore something was burning.

Aside from it feeling as if things were burning metaphorically the last few weeks.

The photo damage was still in question, but no one had seem to ponder about it. Not to her knowledge at least. Damage however between herself, Charlotte, and Summer was starting to seem irreparable. Would it be beneficial for her to just cut them off altogether? Perhaps she was better off on her own without them. After all, she was the Boss, and last she checked, a boss worked for no one but their own damn self.

The nice brief jog around the city block and back to the hotel had seemed to be doing some wonders for her; it gave her enough time to do some hardcore thinking about things that were going on in her life. Summer and Charlotte? Screw'em, although she was curious enough to see what Summer had to potentially say to her. The Boss was going to have to make her own way to the top. As for Seth and Roman-

_Oof!_ Sasha hit the ground with a resounding thud. So deeply lost in her thoughts she hadn't even had time to register exactly where she was running towards, or more specifically, who she was running into. And of all people on this day, it couldn't have been John Cena or even Santino Marella. No, instead it had to be the cold-hearted Viper, Randy Orton.

The menacing man from St. Louis slowly turned around, a sneer growing a country mile on his face. Randy was definitely not impressed with the NXT rookie Diva. "Damn rookies, always barging into people like they think they own the place," Randy hissed, clearly in a foul mood. Losing out on the WWE World Heavyweight title would do that to anyone though.

"You gonna sit there and stare like a blank fish or are you gonna get the hell off my bag?" Randy said, shaking his travel bag to roll Sasha off of it.

"What the hell do you have in there, a dead body?" she responded snapping up to her feet. He didn't even have the chivalry to help her up. Well he was a bit of an asshole according to the majority of the roster. "And I have a name by the way."

"What's it to you?" Randy spat gleaming his ice cold all over her. Sasha crossed her arms feeling uneasy. "Of course you do," Randy scratched his head and glowered his gaze as if he was remembering how to spell. "Seth's call girl right?"

"What did you just say?" Sasha snapped at the viper, she did everything she could to avoid slapping the grin off his face.

"Hey now stay calm, Ms. Banks," he fired sarcasm back at her, "I'm only repeating the words that have been floating around about you."

Sasha shook her head as the crap from Randy's mouth smelled atrocious. "I'm not about to waste my time with your shit," she attempted to walk away.

"Now why would I have to lie about that? You're the one that got your photo leaked all over Perez Hilton and you really think it would disappear without a word?" Randy laughed. "On the main roster honey, we take notes. We know exactly who's meant to swim with sharks—it looks like you'll burn before you can even touch the water."

Sasha rolled her eyes and turned to walk away from Randy's douche baggery. Saying something would give him more fuel. Knocking his teeth out would get her in trouble—politics really did suck.

Not that he didn't have enough fuel. One thing she did agree with the viper on however, trust didn't last too long in the WWE and she only prayed a real war wouldn't break out.

**Monday night Raw 10:59 pm**

Sasha sat on a crate backstage waiting for Summer Rae. Earlier she caught her chatting with the Miz, for who knows what reason, but with Summer being the flirty and friendly blonde—it was expected that she would eventually drop Fandago for good; he was becoming a serious joke.

She finished watching Raw as it closed out strong with Reigns standing tall. He was definitely going to be the shining armor for the company soon and Sasha did indeed believe in him, but as her thoughts boiled into one—she knew that leading him on in anyway was wrong—whether or not his thing with AJ Lee was apparent, he obviously took an interest in both of them, so wasn't it more of a turnabout then? She came back to reality checking her phone, nothing from Rae yet. She headed to the locker room planning to catch Summer before she grabbed her things to end the night.

The locker room was empty and again that faint burning smell from earlier; probably from outside, but it was definitely adamant.

Sasha turned around to see someone in a hoodie walking her way. She couldn't really ID them, but she wasn't prepared to react to what was about to happen next.

It happened so fast, the pain on the back of her head felt like a sword had gone through it. The attacker grinning right at her with an ice cold stare as she tried to get to her feet. Unfortunately the power from hit brought her back down dizzy and fading away.

The last thing she heard was a pipe clinging to the ground.

_**Hey y'all! Thank you all for the feedback! Let me know what you think and keep them coming! Don't forget to check out the connecting stories of the Deadly Sins by RonTheRon "Pride" and Cody'sxFavoritexGirl "Insanity" and Mellyxbrooks "Envy" PikaSixJoy "Revenge'**_


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Being blissfully unaware about something was comforting, however when it smacked you right in the face the feeling was cold, uneasy, and even a little discouraging.

Okay so at the moment it was painful and even with the amount of morphine they pumped into her veins the volcano inside her head still felt like it was about to erupt. She lifted her lids and immediately the burning sensation from the light her irises.

And as her eyes were at times deceiving; it was a few moments before she realized that there were other people in the room. The nurse who had given her the morphine shook her head before leaving the awkwardly unspoken

The remaining lingering eyes included the notorious Authority, minus Seth. Hunter had his arms crossed and signature grimace on his face. Stephanie glowered with worry while Kane held a small cup of coffee expressionless. The events had definitely drained everyone and Sasha was unfortunately one of the victims in this whole situation.

Her eyelids fluttered open and shut due to the effects of the morphine, but the Boss was a fighter; she was heavily anxious to see what exactly the Authority had to say to her. She had to admit it though, there was a certain uneasiness in the air and it probably would only be a matter of time before consequences and punishment were likely to be doled out.

"Sasha honey, how are you feeling?" Stephanie asked, touches of ingenuity in her voice here and there as she observed the condition of the NXT Diva.

"Not too bad. Wish I could feel better enough to be out of this cold hospital though," Sasha responded, and a slight gruff from Kane echoed that sentiment.

Ignoring Kane, Stephanie continued on. "We're very...grateful that Roman Reigns went back into the building and was able to save you before the entire arena collapsed. That was quite brave and thoughtful of him!" she exclaimed, a sly smile tugging on the edges of her lips.

Sasha scratched her head, quickly scrambling for thoughts, memories, or even fragments of what had happened last night. Did Roman really save her? She wish she could have known; all she could muster up was the pain she felt when her mysterious attacker took her out.

"Roman saved me? I can't remember..." Sasha murmured, but Stephanie patted her shoulder. "Honey it's okay, there were dozens of witnesses on hand to witness his heroics, and despite him being on our bad side, we do appreciate what he did to save your life," she said, taking a sip of her water from her canister.

"Enough of the pleasantries Steph, we came down here for other reasons besides checking on her," Hunter cut in rudely. Well thanks for caring boss, Sasha thought to herself. "Sasha, you've been making quite a lot of noise lately, not only for yourself, but for the company as well. That's very impressive; however, not a lot of it has been good press as you know," Hunter started. Sasha braced herself for what was coming. She knew Hunter was a very probing and intellectual person. The Game was not going to stop until he felt he had all the answers he needed to his questions.

"I mean, first you made the immature mistake of sending explicit photos to one of your fellow coworkers, and while I did let it go in the past, I'm feeling the need to know who it was now. So, who was it Sasha? Your brain may be scrambled right now, but I sure as hell know it isn't fried," the COO said, crossing his arms and his face growing even more darker than normal. Sasha laid still in her bed, her eyes not leaving the COO's for a second. One wrong move and her WWE career could potentially be over. She was starting to fall on the bad side of the boss, and that was one place she definitely preferred not to be. However, she wasn't about to rat out Roman's name to her superiors, no matter how confused she felt about him right now.

The Boss remained silent, but could feel the intense gaze of Hunter staring her down and melting her as if she were the wicked witch of the west. "I'm not going anywhere until I get some answers Sasha. We can do this all day," Hunter retorted. Sasha looked away to the other side of the room, feeling so attacked at the moment. "I said answer me damn it!" Hunter yelled, raising his voice to the level where the entire hospital facility could hear him.

As if a hospital bed would be enough to get a little sympathy. She cleared her throat. The ropes of the business in Hunter's eyes were one way—his and of course he wanted a solid solution.

"It was a really foggy night," Sasha said feeling the cards being thrown at her, "the only thing I remember that night—is the name of the drink I ordered and after that it was a blur."

The COO sighed, disgruntled at the answer. Stephanie placed a hand on his shoulder to tame his stance. "Look, Hunter give her some time—between now and last night the traumatic impact has us all on edge—we can't expect her to be clear on anything right now."

Sasha glowered her eyes as the worry from Stephanie's tone sank in. "Who did this..?" she grimaced rubbing the back of her head as she attempted to remember the face of the attacker.

"We have suspects," Stephanie said sitting on the edge of the bed next to Sasha, "but one in particular that we are adamant about."

"CM Punk," Hunter said wasting no time, "like his little wife—he's a bit of a psychopath and since no one has heard from him since he walked out, we're starting to think his vendetta plan is kicking in."

Sasha felt a rush of weakness fall over her, she raised a brow. "He has no reason to attack me..."

"Doesn't he?" Stephanie said referring to AJ Lee. It still didn't flow with her though; Punk attacking her over AJ? Maybe to get to Roman, but that didn't seem right either. Punk would've went straight for Roman..

Maybe.

"Take some time," Stephanie said making a gesture at the director of operations Kane and her husband, "you'll see things clearly when you get better," Stephanie glared her eyes as if she was giving a demand.

Better as in not being attacked by a psychopath? Sasha raised a brow as the power couple and director of operations left the room in dismay. Meddling through her thoughts wasn't going to help them get any answers. You only remembered as much as you wanted too. With documentations from the doctor after tonight she was good to go—still having to fight off what was left over from the concussion and a case of retrograde amnesia. It was far from over. The WWE and authorities had now been investigating the entire roster. Someone was going to get hit with an attempted murder and arson charge—and by the means of CM Punk being the assumed spearhead of the whole event, there was only one person that would be able to confirm that and it was her.

With Roman already being tormented by the authority more specifically the asshole Randy Orton. Sasha decided that maybe it was time to set the fun and games aside. Roman was fun to talk to and she enjoyed the harmless flirting from time to time, but now that the impact of the things were shifting she needed some time to let the drama die out. It didn't help that she wasn't exactly sure where her and Seth stood, but she didn't want to lead Roman on anymore regardless.

The real ride began after this last night in a suddenly peaceful hospital bed.

Sasha reluctantly checked out the hospital just shy from heading to the airport for Summerslam. She returned to her hotel room grabbing her luggage and along the way sending a text to Roman to meet up. She needed to speak with him before heading out to Los Angeles. Maybe it was a little too soon to be saying goodbye, but in time it would do some good. At least she hoped. It wasn't going to be easy—it needed to be done ASAP though.

Roman arrived quickly dressed in a black polo shirt and navy blue basketball shorts. His eyes were shaded by sunglasses and Sasha couldn't help but smile. Maybe it was a little too friendly, but with Roman's warm demeanor it was hard not to be. "Hi," she said a little nervous, "how are you?" The Samoan Thor returned the smile and gave a slight nod.

"I've been alright, as you know it's been a crazy couple of days," he responded sliding his shades off and rubbing around his eyelids, "and you?"

Sasha stood in silence almost searching for the correct words that explained she felt like someone was hitting her upside the head continuously with a pipe.

_Pipe. _

Sasha shook her head as the sound of the pipe hitting the ground flashed back into her memory.

"By the way, I never got a thank you for saving your skin back there last week," Roman chimed in as Sasha lost herself for a bit. With the memories being vague and just about obsolete Sasha only assumed it true, plus the mention from the authority at the hospital was crystal clear.

"You're right...I'm sorry.." she said shaking her head in confusion, "thank you."

"Anyway what's on your mind?" Roman checked the time on his phone for the both of them. Sasha crossed her arms getting a little more serious.

"Everything," she sighed, "mostly regret."

"Regret?" Roman raised a brow baffled by her words, "look I know things have been shitty lately, but come on.." Roman locked his eyes to hers trying to figure her out. "Why don't you just tell me what's really going on?"

"Things have been going downhill," she said in a low tone, "since the day we met."

"Downhill…" he said in an exasperated tone, "am I kryptonite to you or something?"

"One of us is," Sasha said looking to the side, "someone had a bad agenda out for the both of us, Roman. I'd rather it not get worse and if staying clear from each other makes it better for the both of us then so be it."

It was brash and bold, but it had to be done. Sasha grimaced on the inside at it because she really didn't have the intentions of being shady, but Roman accepted it and though angry he kept his cool and wished her well.

**Summerslam**

Sure enough it was go time for one of the biggest parties of the Summer. In actuality it was hell for a majority of the roster. With not knowing who or what was going around blindsiding people and attempting set ablaze the locker room. The Authority was set on CM Punk being the leader of such heinous events. Until a trial was set no one knew who did the damage, but that certainly didn't stop Hunter from pulling his strings to get Punk in handcuffs. Now since Sasha had gotten off of her flight—she had received at least thirty missed calls and twenty text messages. Most were from friends and family inquiring about her being.

She couldn't help, but search for the one from Seth.

Which was non-existent.

Maybe he had come to visit her-he had too, it's not like she would have known since she was pretty much out cold on morphine for at least five days. She sighed shaking her head in disbelief. Why wouldn't he? Too many questions and no answers was frustrating enough with no memory—but she would let that float away for now and enjoy what she could from the show tonight.

The arena's atmosphere was lively as the fans in L.A. bottle in their emotions from the great pay-per-view. Most of the favorites won. Seth stole one, but won nonetheless. Roman in her favor prevailed in his match against Randy.

Sasha yawned putting on some cool down music when strolling through backstage for a bit before leaving for the night. The following morning it was back home to NXT and between working shows—the timely investigation was going to be an addition to her busy schedule... The thought slipped from her mind when she heard a strange noise loud enough to blast her ear buds. Trotting down the hall in curiosity she was surprised to see the newly crowned divas champion—Paige; up to no good at that.

In minor shock Sasha blinked twice when witnessing the self-proclaimed anti-diva hover over the now former Diva's champion, AJ Lee.

AJ was in distress holding her gut and immobile as Paige delivered monstrous kicks; and well well—her partner in crime was the new crazy, Ms. Foxy.

With a weird big grin on her ghostly face; Paige looked over to Sasha and gave a wink as if bygones were made from the past.

She still didn't like the bitch..what was their lingo twat? Certainly she wasn't too fond of AJ at the moment because of the shade she pulled a few weeks ago. Shade should really be the facade for the locker room lately.

Sasha switched to her K-Pop rage music on her iphone, flipped her Malaysian back and shrugged.

AJ would find a way out it—she had been fighting her whole life now hadn't she?

Sasha walked towards the exit, but came to a sudden halt at the desperate words of AJ. "Sasha...help me…"

_Dammit_. Was all her guilty conscience and morals throbbed in the back of her head. She cursed beneath her breath and ran towards the locker room. Alicia stood in front the attack as if she a lioness.

Too bad it was only the hair that made her look scary in which Sasha proceeded to snatch her by her Rihanna roots clocked her a few times and tossed the bitch right into the large waste basket. Paige turned her attention towards Sasha giving her a baffled yet grimy look. "What the hell are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Sasha fired back getting into the face of the Diva's champion.

"Why would you care?" Paige said giving a slight laugh, "isn't she on your hit list?"

"I don't need anyone to cater to my problems, boo." The last word had emphasis.

"I was doing you a favor,"

"I didn't fucking ask for one." Sasha clenched her fist.

"Sasha...relax," Paige said grabbing her divas title and throwing it over her shoulder, "you don't have to pretend you care." The divas champion gave a questionable smile and skipped away down the hall not even bothering to check on Alicia. Sasha shook her head and looked down at AJ who struggled to her feet while using the wall for support.

"Thank you," AJ said coughing her lungs up, "I—,"

"Sure," Sasha said rolling her eyes, "do you need a medic?"

"I didn't expect you help me after what I said to you," AJ confessed with her eyes grazing with moisture, "I'm sorry..."

"Alright," Sasha said giving a slight nod. There was no need to stick around anymore; AJ was in the clear from Paige. She spun to leave the locker room, but AJ didn't want stop the chatter.

"Sasha..,," AJ said limping to a chair nearby, "I know the authority spoke to you about, Punk."

"Vaguely," There was a period of silence.

"He wasn't the one who attacked you," AJ glanced down to the ground.

"Do you know who did?" Sasha glared in her direction. To think that last week she was all over Roman and suddenly she remembered she had a husband.

"I don't, but I do know that Punk would never do that."

"I know it wasn't him," Sasha said without hesitation, "I wouldn't let someone innocent go down for this."

"I wish you knew. We need to free Punk and prove his innocence!" AJ said, hugging a CM Punk bobble-head to her chest.

"I wish I knew AJ," Sasha responded, staring at a picture of the Payback 2014 poster. "I wish I knew."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

The crowd at Madison Square Garden was electric. Jeering for the divas match something that had been becoming more apparent as the division was finally getting the shine that it longed for. NXT Divas and Superstars swooping in for the spotlight was becoming the new game in the orders of COO himself Triple H. Still unsure whether he was at wit's end on the repressed information that Sasha lost at the attack a few weeks ago. Hunter and Stephanie giving her this opportunity was planned long ago; however eventually their patience would run low. They were going to want to know who attacked her.

Okay. More like they wanted her to throw former WWE superstar CM Punk under the bus. As much as Sasha wanted to give the answers the Authority wanted. In her soul she couldn't let an innocent man take the wrap for a crime—no matter what benefits it may bring to her. She just didn't like getting _that _dirty.

Sasha and Charlotte left the ramp as the intensity from the crowd sent chills down their backs. "Great job, ladies!" Stephanie McMahon met the two behind the curtain. "You two were very comfortable for the first time on the big stage, I'm looking forward to seeing the both of you on the main roster very soon."

"It's truly an honor," Sasha said flashing a big smile in the surreal moment.

"It's in my blood," Charlotte added with her head held high, "this divas division belongs to me-" Charlotte paused glaring over to Sasha, "us."

As much as Sasha wanted to slap the bull out of mouth—she kept her composure as the moment for the both of them meant everything even if they didn't quite see eye to eye. Sasha gave the shady smile she knew would get under Charlotte's skin as they both headed to the locker room.

"So, your match against Bayley for the number one contender-ship to my title is tomorrow," Charlotte said grabbing a bottle of water and taking a swig.

"One step closer to the gold," Sasha said nodding in confidence not hiding her crave for the prize at all.

"Obviously this leaves our tagging to an indefinite end," Charlotte with a cocky grin.

"You don't want to tag anymore?" Sasha gave a mutual nod, but still the shade was a long time coming—so she couldn't help, but feel a tad upset. "I expect this from you...especially after all I've done for you."

"What can I say?' You and Summer were holding me down every since this little alliance started."

"Holding you down?" Sasha instantly blew a gasket, "I was the fucking glue to this trio—and as a matter of fact Summer and I got a long just fine until you waddled your duck ass into the picture!"

"Easy," the trickling voice from the sidelines chipped in. The long veteran diva Natayla mediated the two like a mother trying to control her erratic children. "you two good?"

Sasha rolled her eyes wanting to punch the teeth from the both of them. "Yeah, fantastic," she turned to Charlotte, "you know what? Good luck boo, cause you're going to need it."

"Yeah, right." Charlotte returned the animosity as Natayla took a seat next to her. Sasha grabbed her duffel and stormed out of the locker room.

Fired up, Sasha left the arena with her blood boiling over and if anything could be worse it was the mere sighting of Seth Rollins propped up against his car phone surfing-casually at that, but that wasn't anything to be directly angry over.

It was the fact that she hadn't heard from him; a few days before the attack was the last time they had spoken.

Sasha was getting really tired of the shade and apparently Seth had two shades.

Guess that was how things played out. You really knew who cared about you at your worst moment. She had given him the benefit of the doubt since things had been so chaotic, but even after getting out not a whisper in the wind.

Not even damn text message asking if she was alright.

Sasha sighed heavily as mind jumbled into a mess. Seth looked up to see her climbing into her rental. "Going so soon?" Seth said hopping a few cars to get to her. Sasha didn't know what to say or maybe she just felt a response was pointless.

"Yes," she said sternly tossing her duffel into the back seat.

"You're upset," Seth grimaced reading her expression, "what's wrong?"

"Absolutely nothing, Seth," Sasha spat, "I didn't just get my head bashed in recently—and not a damn thing from you either."

"Hey now," Seth said grabbing her hands, "it's not like that."

"You are one shady mother fucker," Sasha said impulsively, "what ever this Authority is...they've changed you."

"No," Seth said glaring at her, "I've changed me—no one ever advances in life without buying in. I flipped a coin and changed my fate."

"And you stabbed everyone you loved in the back while doing so."

"It didn't seem to bother you before," Seth said raising a brow, "but then again I wouldn't be surprised if Reigns has gotten into your head," Seth squeezed his fist.

"Roman didn't change my perception at all, Seth. I was blindly attacked in a burning building and left for dead—that's enough to make me think about right and wrong."

"I'm glad you're okay."

"Good to know after six days in the hospital with no word from you."

"The Authority didn't want anyone near you after the disaster," Seth explained, "Believe me, I tried."

"Did you?" Sasha argued, "because the day I walked out the hospital I hoped that you've would've been there waiting for me."

Seth stood in silence moving through his thoughts. Sasha had enough of this grueling pattern. Earlier this year before and around mania Seth had done the same thing. They were great and everything seemed alright, but then something had changed his mind—and maybe Sasha should just let him alone.

"I have a flight to catch," Sasha slid into the drivers seat and sped off.

* * *

This night marked the international release of the WWE network and as a grand promotion all the NXT stars were in attendance along with select WWE superstars. Sasha had finished her meet and greet with with fans and headed to the party room. She said hello to her fellow colleagues and went over to the food table. She only had assumed something was in the punch bowl because Summer and Miz had been giddy from afar. Lucky for her Joey Mercury was handing out iced tea as a great alternative. The Boss wasn't really in turn up mood for the night. It could have been her conscience telling her to be weary, but that craving for a margarita was no where to be found.

Seth Rollins walked into the venue.

Sasha rolled her eyes and quickly found a seat between Tyler Breeze and Angelo.

"Did you clear your icloud?" Tyler said snapping a quick selfie "some internet freak hacked the system and now everyone's nudes are on twitter."

"Man, too bad they didn't any of Rihanna," Angelo said shaking his head.

"You don't have hack ICloud to get a nude photo of Rihanna—she's always naked," Sasha sighed as Tyler and Angelo nodded in agreement, "My photo was already leaked so if it leaks again it's not going to make any difference."

"Fair enough," Tyler agreed fixing a loose strand of his hair moving his eyes in the other direction, "you have a visitor." Sasha turned to see Nikki Bella surprisingly approaching with a gentle smile on her face and a glass of red in hand.

"Can I talk to you for a moment?" Nikki asked. Sasha gave slight nod getting to her feet and following Nikki over to a less crowded corner. The boss must have gotten up too fast because the floor almost slipped from beneath her and her head had become foggy.

"You okay?" Nikki said grabbing Sasha's arm. Sasha nodding blinking a few times as the lights in the venue pierced her irises.

"Yeah, I'm good," Sasha responded clearing her throat. It had been a long day. "What is it?"

"I wanted to congratulate you," Nikki said in a sincere tone, "the divas division has been on the rise lately; and you and Charlotte definitely brought your A-games signaling the future."

"That's all we thrive to do," Sasha agreed, "always."

"You know I've been thinking," Nikki advised taking a sip of wine, "you'd be a perfect candidate for the Authority."

Sasha laughed shaking her head. Of course..Nikki just betrayed her own damn blood and now she was a runner for The Authority. Just another corporate junkie that she couldn't trust.

"No thanks..I'm not into playing with fire," Sasha bellowed as her head felt even lighter. Unsure what this sudden feeling was coming from she glanced over to the iced tea she had finished fifteen minutes ago.

Fuck.

She needed to sit down.

None of that was happening though—the one person she had been trying to avoid was in her face right as she attempted to depart from the Bella twin.

" 'scuse me," Sasha said trying to push past Seth. She moved faster than her body allowed her to and her head was in a full blown spin; she fell right into his chest.

"You need to sit down," Seth gently lead her away from the dance floor, "how much have you—"

"Something is in that god damn—" Sasha stopped mid sentence when she realized that Seth had led her into a room.

"What is this?" Sasha asked as an uncanny feeling crawled up her spine.

"The light's and noise seemed to be bothering you," Seth said taking a seat across from her, "I wanted to talk...

"I told you I was done..."

"I know you did, and I don't care," Seth said frankly. His heavy sigh spoke volumes to Sasha on just how serious the two-toned Superstar was being right now.

"You ever try living each and every day in your life knowing that once you do something you'll regret it? Even before you do it?" Seth inquired, as he stared blankly into Sasha's eyes. "I do, and every day I regret what I did to my Shield brothers," he said in a flat manner.

"I don't believe you. I'm done listening to your lies," Sasha hissed. She wasn't about to fall for any more of this man's lies. Not anymore.

"I'm not lying Sasha. I did regret it...but not anymore. I got tired of the shade. Tired of being swept under the rug in favor of a borderline psycho and an overhyped Samoan with muscles. You can't tell me you didn't feel the same way in the BFFs," he taunted with precise cunning.

Sasha gritted her teeth. She knew part of what he was saying was true. Summer got plenty of hype because of her looks and legs, and even landed a movie role in a WWE Film. Charlotte won the NXT Women's championship not even one year after being on NXT television. Plus, her father was the legendary Ric Flair and that was one of Triple H's best buddies. Go figure.

Yes, Sasha could feel the shade, and it was very cold. And yet here was Seth, presumably offering her a way out of the darkness and back into the light. But something within her told her not to shake his hand.

"Yes Seth I did feel that way. But I didn't stab them in the back like your fucking ass did. I'm done with you and your games. Now let go of me," the Boss yelled, shaking loose of Seth's grip and struggling towards the open door. Her vision was hazier than the pollution in the Los Angeles skyline.

Seth shook his head, but not before an unseen crooked smile crossed his facial features. "Alright Sasha, I gave you an opportunity," he said, rushing over to open the door to let her out, "so just remember that when your WWE career goes up in smoke," Seth sneered, walking out of the room and the party altogether.

Sasha rolled her eyes, or at least she thought she did, as she finally was able to stagger back up to her own two feet. Heading back to the main hotel lobby, she was kind of surprised to see that most of the guests had already cleared out and were either leaving in their cars or were heading into their rooms.

She managed to spot Joey Mercury, one of the NXT trainers and head producers for both Raw and SmackDown, making haste with the cleanup. "Hey Joey!" Sasha called out, stumbling her way over to him. "You got any aspirin? My head is killing me," Sasha said, using the wall to hold her up on her own two feet. What the hell was in that drink?

Joey finished cleaning the tables, and stared at Sasha Banks blankly for at least a full blown two minutes before speaking. "Sasha, have you ever had a savior before? Someone who would just lay it all on the line for you and help you gain any opportunity you may seek?" he questioned, taking a seat across from her while she struggled to stand.

"Huh?" Sasha blinked, as Joey shook his head and continued. "Everyone goes through those dark times in their lives. Lord knows I have. And just when you wanna give up, somebody comes by and lends you a hand, and helps you get back on your feet. I've had that happen too," Joey continued as Sasha's mind started to burn. She needed to lay down. NOW.

"Then you start to follow that savior, and you do everything that your savior teaches you to do. Then one day, once you think you've finally gotten the message and hang of everything, your savior walks out on you and vanishes. As if he was never there...and then it becomes very clear that everything your savior taught you was a lie. A straight, bald faced lie," Joey said, anger starting to build up in his tone.

"Joey, I don't know what the hell you're going on about, but I really need somebody to come and get me some medical help…" Sasha said, starting to hear weird whirring sounds going on around her. Dizziness was starting to set in and she could definitely feel she was starting to lose it.

"You look fine to me Sasha. Besides, saviors who tell you lies deserve to burn for their lies and sins, don't you think? A mother never turns her back on her children so a savior should never mislead his followers and disciples. My savior is currently paying for his sins and transgressions as we speak, and I think maybe it's about time you confessed to yours Sasha," Joey said, placing a hood over his head.

Her anxiety at an all time high and her heart nearly skipping beats, Sasha was finally starting to understand what exactly was going on here. As her eyes glowered towards the door, she noticed both Mr. Money In the Bank Seth Rollins standing there on the outside, alongside an elegantly dressed Nikki Bella, who took a few sips of her moscato and waved to Sasha, infuriating her.

Using what was left of her energy, Sasha made a break for the door, but that plan was quickly put into flames when the opposition of Big E, Kofi Kingston, and Xavier Woods stood in her way.

"Enough with...the games guys," Sasha pleaded, "I don't want any trouble…"

"Games?" Xavier said adjusting his suit, "we're not tossing you chances anymore."

"It's your word against Punk is the only thing that will eliminate him for good," Seth stated, "it's all or nothing."

"Burn in hell!," Sasha snapped slapping him across the face, "I would never let an innocent man suffer for a crime he didn't commit!"

Seth gritted his teeth tasting the blood on his lip after the hard slap from Sasha. He grabbed her shoving her against the wall, hard. "Who attacked you, Sasha?" Seth demanded the answer.

Sasha gasped catching her breath from the impact. She truly did not know who this man was anymore. "I don't know!" she coughed out the only answer she knew.

"Wrong answer," Seth reached into his back pocket pulling out something that at first blurred in the vision of Sasha's, but then made her heart shatter as the room became rigid cold. Seth took the 9mm and slid it across her chest, placing it against her heart.

"No...," Sasha shook out the words, "this... isn't what you want, Seth."

"It's not about what I want, it's about what's fair."

**Thanks guys! Keep the reviews coming! I love feedback! Sorry about the delay in updating!**

**Follow these stories as well in our interconnected universe:**

**Pride by RonTheRonin **

**Envy by MellyxBrooks**

**Revenge by PikaSixJoy**

**Insanity by Cody'sxFavoritexGirl**

**And Bootleg by Bobby Hill (JK)**

**BAci!**


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